CAFFARINI, TOMMASO. — Dominican, properly Tommaso di Antonio (Thomas Antonii) da Siena. Laurent, who restored his surname, commonly calls him “C.”
Born in Siena around 1350, died in Venice in 1434. He entered the Order of Preachers while still young at S. Domenico in Camporegio. From 1364 onward he was in personal and epistolary contact with s. Caterina. Lecturer in theology at Genoa in 1391, after a journey to the Holy Land he settled in Venice (November 1394); he was provincial of the province of Greece (1397), prior of SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice (1409–11), and of S. Domenico di Castello (1414–22).
In the history of the secular Third Order of s. Domenico and of devotion to Caterina he had entirely special merits. In 1396 the b. Raimondo da Capua entrusted him with the direction of the Mantellate in Venice. In 1401 p. Tommaso da Fermo appointed him vicar general for all the Mantellate of Italy and entrusted him with negotiations for the canonization of the Sienese woman and for approval of the Rule of Muñoz da Zamora. He composed a Treatise on the Dominican Third Order, of which Part 1 was completed in 1402, Part 2 in 1407, while Part 3, a collection of letters of indulgence, seems to have remained incomplete after 12 August 1407.
Following the example of their confrères in other cities, the Sons and Daughters of S. Domenico in Venice adopted the custom of commemorating with a certain solemnity the anniversary of Caterina da Siena’s death. In 1411, following a dispute over this custom that had arisen between devotees and opponents of the Sienese woman, a deputation of Dominicans asked the bishop of Castello to open an inquiry whose purpose would be to demonstrate the virtues attributed to Caterina da Siena. At first C. held the reins of the affair concerning Caterinian virtues known as the Processo Castellano. It was presented to the episcopal Curia of Castello and contains 23 depositions (Dominicans, members of other religious orders, and laypeople), with 2 supplements and 1 letter from Cardinal Giovanni Dominici, collected between 1411 and 1416. The importance of the inquiry and of the information is considerable. Laurent has brought to light the history and the historical and juridical value of these depositions from Castello.
He worked extensively on two other manuscripts concerning Caterina: shortly before 1411 and until that year, on the Supplementum to the Caterinian legends of Capuano (Proc. Cast., LXI–LXVII), completing it in 1416–18 in the form in which it has come down to us (ibid., LXI); while in 1412–13 he committed to writing the first account of the Legenda minor, which received a second version in 1413–1414 (ibid., XIX–LXI). C. also collected Caterinian letters.